The next CIES research workshop will take place on November 27, 2025, between 12:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., in room B226 of Building 4 (Iscte-Knowledge and Innovation). This initiative is part of the Inequalities, Work, and Social Welfare Research Group.

PRESENTATION
Sofia Gomes
CIES Research Assistant

COMMENTARY
António Lopes
Istar Researcher

ABSTRACT

Contemporary society, characterized by the centrality of knowledge and growing technological complexity, poses new challenges for education systems, particularly with regard to the inclusion of adults in higher education. In this context, Lifelong Learning (LLL) is emerging as a fundamental educational paradigm, but it is crossed by tensions between humanistic visions - focused on integral development, emancipation and citizenship - and instrumental visions - focused on employability, adaptation to the market and economic competitiveness.

Students over the age of 23 are a privileged observatory of these tensions: between the democratization of education and the persistence of mechanisms of social reproduction; between the discourse of valuing experiential knowledge and the hegemony of academic knowledge; between the protagonism of individuals and the structural constraints that shape their paths.

The aim of this workshop is to present the main concepts mobilized and promote a discussion on the tensions between inclusion and exclusion, which will contribute to building a more inclusive, democratic and emancipatory higher education system.